Cars travel along an eastbound segment of Interstate 24 between Rossville Boulevard and Fourth Avenue that exceeds the average statewide crash rate by two or more times Friday in Chattanooga.Of the 10 most dangerous spots on all 180 miles of Interstate 24 in Tennessee – the places where your chance of being in a crash is more than twice the state average – three are in downtown Chattanooga.
City commuters won’t be surprised to learn that two are just west of Missionary Ridge, and the third is the concrete canyon between Belvoir Avenue and South Moore Road — choke points where rear-enders and fender-benders can lock up traffic for hours.
The numbers come from an ongoing study of the entire I-24 corridor by the Tennessee Department of Transportation and include two other spots in the neighboring communities of Kimball and Monteagle. Of the remainder, four are in Davidson County and one is in Robertson County.
Results of the study, due Jan. 30, will help TDOT decide what fixes will help the 1960s-era highway accommodate 21st-century transportation needs, said Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for TDOT’s Region 2 office in Chattanooga.
Flynn said antique designs such as the combined acceleration/deceleration lanes in the Moore Road area and the sharp curve at the bottom of the ridge cut in the westbound lanes would not meet today’s standards.